Re-conceptualizing Jiangxi: Political Culture Determines the Tone of a City

--Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province, is also a city of history and culture, most famous for the "Preface to the Tengwang Pavilion," which is required to be memorized in secondary school textbooks. Jiangxi Province itself is predominantly plain and hilly, and so is Nanchang, which is located in the north central part of the province. It is worth noting that Nanchang is rich in water resources, with the Gan River flowing through it.

Although Nanchang is the capital of the province, the city has an inexplicable sense of decay. Surrounded by several famous provinces of Hunan, Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang Province, Jiangxi, inexplicably, especially no sense of existence. As for the performance and reasons for this, it will be elaborated later in the travelogue.

Nanchang Changbei International Airport: As the name suggests, it is located in the northern part of Nanchang, and there is a direct bus service between the station.

Nanchang Station: Located in the east-southeast of Nanchang, this is where most of the regular trains come and go.

Nanchang West Station: high-speed railroad, moving train through the station, and the city has a direct bus.

Subway: the subway construction in Nanchang is relatively slow, so the distribution is not quite wide, but most of the major attractions and downtown area is still relatively convenient, WeChat, Alipay can sweep the code payment.

Bus: same as above, can also brush WeChat or Alipay.

Tengwangge business district: Tengwangge itself is located on the Ganjiang River, the night view of the surrounding accommodation is also good, the distance from other core attractions are not too far away, is considered to be the first choice of accommodation in Nanchang tour.

Bayi Square business district: not far from Tengwangge, but a little farther from Qiu Shui Square.

Around Qiu Shui Square: Qiu Shui Square and Tengwang Pavilion are located on both sides of the Ganjiang River, so the traffic is a little worse, but the surrounding buildings are relatively new, the environment will be slightly better. If you live in a room facing the river, the night view is also good.

Tengwang Pavilion: Overall, there are not many valuable attractions in Nanchang, and Tengwang Pavilion is considered one of the must-visit places. Tengwang Pavilion night view is very beautiful, and there are performances in the evening, if possible, it is recommended that the daytime stroll Tengwang Pavilion and watch the show, the night night cruise boat on the river to shoot Tengwang Pavilion night view.

Bayi Square: Nanchang City is considered a more central business district, the famous Bayi Nanchang Uprising Memorial Tower and Memorial Hall on the side, in addition to the square at night there will be musical fountains. Although Bayi Square has a great reputation, but it is recommended to play friends do not hold too high expectations, it is easier to disappoint, the specifics will be introduced in the back of the detailed travel.

Qiushui Square: located on the west side of the Ganjiang River, along the Ganjiang River side of a row of plazas, which has the largest area, the most famous is Qiushui Square. Strictly speaking, Qiu Shui Square is a bit chicken ribs, you say it's beautiful, indeed beautiful, but really does not count as distinctive, basically along the river in the city will have one or two similar to this square. If the transportation is convenient and time is sufficient, it is possible to stroll around in the evening, and take a picture of the night view of the river.

Meiling National Forest Park: The area around Jiangxi is predominantly Taoist, so many of the mountains in the province are famous for Taoism, and Meiling National Forest Park is said to be the birthplace of the Taoist Jingming Sect. Meiling is very large, and several different places within it require separate entrance fees, which vary in price. Strictly speaking, Meiling is more of a place for locals to relax and play on weekends or holidays, and is of average value to tourists.

Since Changsha and Nanchang are both provincial capitals, transportation is still relatively easy.

As introduced earlier, the best place to stay in Nanchang is around Tengwangge, but around Tengwangge belongs to the old city center, so I chose to live in a B&B near Qiu Shui Square, the house is relatively new, relatively clean, and the room just can see the river view, still quite cool. Transportation is also okay, there is a subway station nearby, taxi to Bayi Square Tengwangge about 30 or so.

I arrived in Nanchang a few days ago, the weather has not been very good, coupled with a cold in Changsha on the suffering, relatively no fighting, so the trip in Nanchang is relatively small.

Under this premise, what I wanted to do most was to go all the way along the Ganjiang River to take pictures of the river scenery, after all, I live right by the river. But the weather was just awful on the 30th, and it rained all day, and surprisingly got heavier in the evening. Until it was completely dark, the rain started to get smaller. Unfortunately, the fog on the river was quite heavy, and it was impossible to take a long-distance shot, so I only got some close-up shots.

While the weather on the 31st still didn't improve, I had limited time to stay in Nanchang, so I went to Tengwangge anyway.

Relatively fortunately, although it was drizzling and foggy when I arrived at Tengwang Pavilion, the weather started to clear up in the second half of the trip, and I was able to get some clearer photos.

Leaving Tengwang Pavilion, I took a bus to Bayi Square. Since it was getting close to evening, I didn't go to the museum, but just took a look around the square. As for the photos, there is really nothing to shoot, the memorial tower looks similar, the weather is not good, so do not put the picture.

If time permits, it is still recommended to stroll around the museum next to the square, the feeling should be okay.

The day before, due to the weather, did not get a beautiful night view of the river. And this night, the weather finally cleared up. Once again, I walked all the way along the Ganjiang River to Qiushui Square and got some nice photos along the way. Also the aunts were dancing in waves along the plaza, which was still quite lively.

My trip to Nanchang was not a short one, arriving on May 29th and leaving on June 2nd, three full days could have been spent in many places. However, due to personal health and weather reasons, the real attractions are not much, more time instead of in the residential neighborhood blind wandering.

Maybe it's because I live in a residential area, a little farther away from the Tengwang Pavilion and Bayi Square, and when I first arrived in Nanchang, I inexplicably felt a kind of "desolation". This kind of desolate, and the identity of the capital of Nanchang is extremely inconsistent. When I complained to my friend about this, my friend meant that it was because the area I lived in was relatively remote. At that time, I did not really start touring, so I dare not jump to conclusions.

It wasn't until I actually went to Tengwang Pavilion and Bayi Square that I further confirmed my feelings. As the capital city of a province and neighboring Hunan, Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang, Nanchang's sense of "desolation" is not only representative of Nanchang, but even of Jiangxi Province.

After all, it is a city, certainly not in the true sense of the word desolate, but as a provincial capital city, his degree of commercialization and urban construction, not in line with the requirements of the provincial capital and the impression, not to mention the surrounding are relatively high economic level of the province.

To give a few examples of what I've seen.

On the evening of the first day in Nanchang, I walked to the neighborhood supermarket to buy something, Wanda's community, there are few shopping areas around, and there are only a few places to eat in the mall. Along the way, there weren't many cars or people either. Although it is a weekday before the evening rush, but this kind of traffic and people flow, but also by no means the capital city should appear.

As I rode through the main city, the streets were indeed much less crowded than in other comparable cities at idle. And the dilapidated feel of the city is more than evident.

There is a shopping district near Bayi Square, and I turned around a little to solve the problem of eating. The first thing that's weird is that a shopping district that you can look up in a travel guide only has two buildings of about 3-4 floors. And in one of them, two of those floors were occupied by Walmart. This level of business district, even in many non-provincial capital cities, can not count it.

When I chose a dumpling restaurant, I chose corn-filled dumplings based on my personal preference, and I genuinely disliked the other flavors. While sitting in the store waiting, the front desk ordering waitress suddenly came over and asked if I could change to another filling. My first reaction was that the one I wanted to eat was not available, after all, in a place like Nanchang, not many people eat corn filling, so I just told the clerk to give me a refund because I really didn't want to eat the other filling. As soon as I said I wanted a refund, I alerted a person who looked like the store manager. After she asked me, she rushed downstairs to the kitchen to ask again, and came back to say that she told me to wait and that there was more corn filling. In hindsight, I surmised that they wanted to change my meal not because they didn't have the ingredients, but that there happened to be other diners in the store who had ordered the more popular flavors and wanted me to order that as well so that it would take less time to make. This is the kind of unprofessional practice that I don't see too often even in many small cities anymore.

Speaking of the only Tengwang Pavilion that I think is a must-see, there was something that disappointed me about the surroundings. Beijing's Forbidden City is located in the center of the city, and the second ring within the height of the building is limited, the purpose is to protect the environment around the Forbidden City, do not let the skyscrapers fall into the background of the Forbidden City. This practice really can not require other cities to do, but Tengwangge around the high-rise buildings are also too close to it (turn to the front of Figure 15 to feel) ...... I do not have a systematic study of the area and population distribution in Nanchang, alone on the Tengwangge around the dense degree of the building, my most intuitive feeling is that the city lacks land, hate to I'm not sure if you're going to be able to get a good deal on a new one, but I'm sure you're going to be able to get a good deal on a new one.

I stayed in Nanchang for five days, Wednesday to Sunday to go, really do not dare to say that the city has a complete knowledge. But after all, I have not been to Nanchang only one place, and the contrast with other cities makes me feel a different kind of feeling about this city. Its location and natural resources, should not reveal this "sense of decay" and "sense of desolation". So where does that come from?

I had a similar feeling on my trip to Yingtan. That is to say, not only Nanchang, the entire Jiangxi Province exudes a strange feeling. Sandwiched between Hunan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, several economic provinces, Jiangxi, why especially no sense of presence? Jiangxi's natural resources are not worse than the surrounding area, you know the famous Mount Lu in Jiangxi Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, which consists mainly of plains and hills, but also a lot of Taoist mountains.

Afterwards, I looked up a lot of information about Jiangxi, and suddenly found a very interesting thing, perhaps related to what I felt in Jiangxi: Jiangxi's corrupt officials are especially many, and even out of a few nationally famous big corrupt officials. Careful recall, I may have seen the relevant news, just that time on the political economy is not cold, do not realize the impact of the back. Now the combination of what I have seen and heard in Jiangxi and these big embezzlers together, it can be imagined, why guarding the generous natural resources, Jiangxi's development is so different from neighboring provinces. Nanchang, as the capital of the province, reveals a sense of desolation that does not match its status. I do not have a systematic study of the history of Jiangxi Province, humanities and other development, but this is definitely a very complex issue, not a sentence or two can be clear.

One thing is for sure, as a Northeasterner, I can feel the impact of regional culture on the economy, because the Northeast is also a region of gradual decline. Due to the "triad culture" of the Northeast, there is a gradual exodus of young, thoughtful people. There is a joke that only civil servants and their families are left in the Northeast. I'm not going to explain too much about the meaning of this, but let's see for ourselves. When you go to economically developed places, you do find that these places are much more civilized.

I do not want to black his hometown or Jiangxi, economically underdeveloped cities have good aspects, developed also have bad aspects, everything is two sides, or even multi-faceted. But there are some facts that we must face, such as my hometown, such as Jiangxi. Really see these gaps, we know that the development of the city rely on what, and those backward places, where the gap.

To be honest although the economic development of Jiangxi Province is not good, but the natural resources are really good. I initially made plans to include Jiujiang and Shangrao, and the goal is to Lushan and Sanqingshan. Due to the Guangxi trip is really too intensive, too tired, in Guangxi to develop the Jiangxi trip, do the subtraction, only retained the provincial capital of Nanchang and relatively short Longhu Mountain. In hindsight, this subtraction has proved to be the right thing to do.

The Longhu Mountain in Yingtan is also a very controversial place. Some people will ask me "Longhu Mountain is not very pit" and so on, on this point, I will be later in the trip to Yingtan to answer.

The travelogue has been almost half written, originally intended to play in the travel process, I did not expect to procrastinate until now only half more. This progress, less a lot of feelings at the time, but more multi-perspective thinking, I personally rather think that such a travelogue is more valuable.

We'll see you next time!